For our upcoming NEMO cluster, I would like to buy a Foundry Networks
switch (RX-16) with 48-port copper GigE cards that use 'mini RJ-21'
(telco) connectors rather than the more standard RJ-45 ones.
These MRJ-21 connectors carry the equivalent of six standard CAT5E
ethernet lines. So a 48-port card has eight MRJ-21 connectors plugged
into it. The 48-port cards are not available with RJ-45 connectors
because the RJ-45 connectors are physically too large: one can't get 48 of
them onto the front of the card.
Since the remainder of our cluster (hosts, edge switches, etc) will use
standard RJ-45 connectors, we need to use 'patch panels' to convert the
MRJ-21 to RJ-45. Does anyone on the list have good or bad experiences
with such patch panels and with MRJ-21?
Cheers,
Bruce